How Two Master Chefs Run the Only Michelin-Starred Korean Steakhouse — Mise En Place

- Very good, let's begin. This marinated short rib is the last portion of our Butcher's Feast and Omakase, and we call it a "meat dessert" of sorts. It's sweet, crunchy. (upbeat dance music) - We ate a lot of meat. I think we go through about 3,000 pounds of beef a week. - People might think that we work in a

steakhouse

to get tired of meat, but that is not the case. Cut this, marinate this, eat this, it's so much fun. - But also a lot of time, a lot of time and effort. What we are going to do is simply put them both together and you can go down. - Ribs are not considered a very high quality cut, but the reason ribs are so expensive is because it requires a lot of knife work. - Unlike conventional grills, we need to create a lot of fermentation process, which is meticulous, you have to clean it very well, it takes time to age it, it means a lot of work. - It's a nice feeling to take this off like this.

I mean, I guess if you do this long enough, you just get into the groove and something feels like, oh, it's a good cut, it's a clean cut. So this is clean. From here, we'll just delete this. Once you cut it in half, you will actually see the marble. - People think that, hey, you cook every meat on the table, but they don't know that. It is definitely a labor-intensive operation. - Final stage of cutting the short rib, it will be marked diagonally, like this, making sure not to cut completely, and then we will turn it over, do the same, we will cut. all the way, and if you do it correctly, once you pull it out, it should stretch a little.

Ribs are usually prepared as a braised product, with longer cooking techniques, but if you do this with a proper marinade, you can cook them in less than four or five minutes and they will still be very juicy, tender and full of flavors. and it stretches like an accordion. So for me, this volume from the beginning was just a normal day, a mountain of ribs, for sure. - As a chef, having a really good product is something that is not granted, it simply makes me very proud. - When you look at a swan gliding across the pond, it looks very elegant.

Below they're rowing like hell, and I think that's our operation. - So after this, we're going to put it in our kalbi marinade that's made in-house with all of our delicious fruit juices, and it's going to sit in the marinade for about six to eight hours before serving. - All the food we make here, there's nothing we can do on the fly. If we don't pay attention from the beginning, then the result will be wrong and then we won't be able to move quickly on anything. - So after the ribs, we probably have another six or eight more cuts to cut.

Today is a morning of carnage. - A lot of times when you look at Cote, it's "turn it on and have a lot of fun," but you can't do that without really putting in the time, effort, sweat and tears. - Yes, right now, these guys are getting ready for dinner service. The sink on the right is our scallion salad mix, which goes on all the tables. The julienne, or cutting the chives with our chive machine, and cutting the chives like this with a knife will take us days. One week it broke and we had to do it, there were six of us with knives, trying to julienne this for hours. - That happened to me when I first joined the team.

It was a Friday night, a Saturday night. I do not want to get back. (laughs) - And guys, you just have to look at how dense this thing is. I can't even answer this. These guys are probably eating four, six boxes of scallions, five, six boxes of lettuce, and this is part of the daily preparation so that we can feed our guests lots of greens. - Cote is a

steakhouse

, but we are also a Korean steakhouse. I am from Korea, as are our two

chefs

. Therefore, it was a very important mission for us to present the authentic flavors of Korea. - This is the first process of making kimchi.

Then we take the outer leaves that are a little wilted. - And what we didn't want to be is a kind of Westernized and Americanized version of Korean flavors. - And normally the stem is the part that is least salted, so we simply open it so that there is more area for the salt to penetrate. Salting is the most important part. If you mess up with the salting, the cabbage won't eat the marinade as well and instead of being crispy, it will get a little mushy, and that's when you fail. - So in this process there are no cheats, there is no fast forward for this.

Literally, you have to salt each leaf. - If you cheat, you waste- - There is no turning back. - 10 to 14 days of your time. - Correct, this is called Topanyeom, which is a salt aged for 1000 days, which is usually very coarse. In Korean, there is now a term that says "son-mat", which is the taste of your hand. It's a key aspect of Korean cooking because many recipes say "hand taste." -And usually when we make kimchi in Korea, usually three moms are together and they get piles of cabbage. - Aunts, your whole family, yes. - Yes, aunts, and then it's like a huge, huge, huge kimchi production there. - My parents and family know that I work at a Korean steakhouse, a Korean restaurant.

But when I tell them I'm making six boxes of kimchi a week, they'll say, "What are you doing making kimchi? Oh, you went to culinary school to make kimchi? I could have taught you that." So after this video is released, we may receive many calls from family members. - My origin, after school, is from Jean Georges, basically we both came from a French restaurant. I never thought I would cook Korean food, but... Here it is. - Here I am, and then I like it a lot because when I came here, I thought, oh, this feels like home because I know kimchi, I know kalbi. - After a certain point, you look at yourself or remember and think, now what?

The more you think about it and what ties you to your past, I think it really starts to blossom, and I think that's why we're here. - But now it's like a restaurant scale. It's a little stressful, but fun because we're always trying to perfect everything. So these guys will sit for about 12 hours and you're ready to fill it with our marinade. Alright, you want to make sure it's crispy; Otherwise, when you ferment, it won't have the texture you're looking for. Mmmm, salty, crunchy. (Group laughs) You can all get your hotel pans out and we'll refill it, like salt, making sure every leaf goes in.

So once you fill it up good, I'll put it in this bucket, close it, and ferment it in the walk-in for about 10 to 14 days. Two, four, six, eight, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 30 cubes of kimchi at a time are stored in the walk-in. It's our secret sauce, right? - For us, sourcing is probably one of the most important things. That's why we now have two types of caviar on our menu. In fact, we are looking to expand our caviar program. Being a restaurant owner, we can try many different things, but trying caviar never goes out of style. This is definitely one of the biggest advantages. - So I brought six different types. - We want to bring really hard to find caviar.

Having a great relationship with your suppliers really helps. And ideally, I'm looking for something that's really gray, almost white in tone, like off-white. - Oh, sure. - But our restaurant is a little bit darker and moodier, that kind of lighter pop brings that kind of excitement to the table. This is the hybrid that we already offer currently. Oh man, that is so delicious. There's a reason we use this, huh? - And today I brought white sturgeon from California. and I also brought another species that is Siberian from Uruguay. - If you're going to try it, try a lot, right?

So you can try everything, right? - All great

chefs

do that. Next, you should try the supreme. Supreme, yes, it is white sturgeon and it is very old. - That's a very nice salt, it's not that kind of bitter salty. - Next shipment, I'll send you something. I really have to choose... when I open 10 cans, maybe one. - I want a big pearl, a different flavor profile, a little bit of gray with a whiter tone, if you could create that. (laughs) - Okay, I can create that, I'll start breeding new fish. - Shaoching, thank you very much for coming.

It's always a pleasure. - Ah, it's a pleasure. - So all the layups that you see them building, this is a big part of the morning production, and our opening runners and the setup team, they really get very involved in this banchan program. This is for every table dining with us tonight, from kimchi to pickles to sesame leaves. Let's work on the raw bar. I think SK made some amazing seafood and... - Very excited, what do you have? - Live king crab, live spotted prawns and live razor clams. - I'm excited, brother. - Cool. - Let's do it. - Last year we presented our seafood board.

We call it the Great Plateau. - And we have this amazing king crab, all alive. - Curse. - Check it out. - That je ne sais quoi is missing, so we're trying to see what we can add to give that final sparkle to that diamond ring. - Then we are going to make a ceviche of razor clams, spotted shrimp, everything alive. - Spotted shrimp. - Yes, it is very sweet, so we will serve it raw. - So Chef SK and Chef David are the culinary powerhouse behind this operation. Normally, a steakhouse is not necessarily a concept that requires very powerful chefs, whereas with Cote, that's where everything comes from. - Butchering all day and then learning these gastronomic techniques, how to poach, how to cook, how to sauté or how to blanch, is when our chef mentality really comes together.

We were like, zoom, how can I make this the most amazing king crab we can make? - Cote, we want to position ourselves somewhere between a steakhouse where everything is just a funnel and a creative restaurant run by a super chef. I think somewhere in the middle is the perfect

place

. - Okay, and we'll let this sit. Alright, first here are the oysters. - I feel like Simon Kim is a medium. I try to stay between what the customer wants and what the chefs want to do. Initially, the tension between the chef and my vision has been a little difficult at first, but at this point, we've been open for four years.

We have truly worked as one. - Dealing with Simon is a bit... I'm just going to say it, a pain in the ass. He wants to be the best version of it. - But he is always a great support. Yes, he insists, but we all know that, where he comes from, we just want to improve. - Working in the kitchen, you lose the mentality of what the guests want because you are always focused on what I want to do, what we want to do. We really want to respect the guests' perspective, and Simon definitely brings a big part of that.

So I think in this iteration we will try to meet all your requirements to offer the best of what is currently on the market. (music playing softly) We love caviar here. I think we've definitely done a different version than we've had in the past. He decided to put the caviar on top to give it that super luxurious feeling. I mean, we'll probably sit down with Simon, he'll give us some shit and we'll figure it out. -Basically, he'll say, "Okay, that looks good, but now let's talk about food costs," he doesn't make sense. - Yes Yes Yes. -And we're going to have to charge about $250 for one, and then he'll say, "No, I think he's a little crazy." And then we'll say, "Okay, these are the ones you like and we did it, and then what can we do?" - What's up, chefs? - What's wrong, Simon? - Okay, then. - Oh, it looks very good. - We made a slightly different version of our tower.

And the mid-level is where it really got luxurious. - It's really beautiful. I think the razor will be very difficult to eat, unless you are very crafty with chopsticks, I think it will be a little difficult. Maybe we have things individualized per person so everyone gets one, and then they can do it because if I'm with four of my friends, if I make a mess, I'll be embarrassed. What is this, spotted shrimp? - Yes. - That was live, right? - Yes Yes. Only the best. - How sweet, yes. The spotted shrimp looks very good. I don't know, caviar on top, it sure looks like a crown jewel, right?

But in terms of elevation, right, being in such a high position, it will be a little difficult, right, because imagine, I guess in terms of elevation, it will not be that easy to put together. Otherwise the client has to go ahead and do this, and that's not that fun either, right? So I think we need to find something that's a little easier to take from the top. But otherwise, I love king crab. I think it will taste super delicious. Live, live, huh? - Yes, they all live. - That's amazing, wow, that's amazing. Yeah, king crab, it's definitely...

I mean, cost-wise, do you think what do you think this is going to be? - I think it will be quite expensive. (Group laughs) (overlapping chatter) The king crab

only

has six legs. (laughs) - And there are two of them. - Yes. - I think we've definitely gotten something, but I think we have to find out. A, we don't want it to be too expensive. I think the entire Grand Plateau should be under $225, right? I think caviar can just be a complement, right? So if someone wants caviar it should be, right? Because this is going to cost 120 dollars right here,TRUE? - Of course, it is, yes. - Yes, but it looks good, let's get going. - Alright. - Thank you, cook. - We have beef. - At a steakhouse, everything begins and ends with beef.

Beef is king. - We have American Wagyu griddle. - And of course, trimming is a big part because we get everything, and now we have to remove the silver skin and then make it really presentable. - Oh, look, more ribs. This arrival comes almost every day, maybe twice a day, if we run earlier. - It all depends. - Yes Yes Yes. - And I don't know what they're doing with all this, but what they're doing not

only

with the rib meat, but also with the short ribs, with the flat plate, with the griddle, things that are not normally considered a premium cut or premium cut, it's amazing. - What we have here is the imperial Wagyu griddle, which is used in our Butcher's Festival. - So, Butcher's Feast is the foolproof way to enjoy a Korean steakhouse. - We just have to say that this flat iron is probably one of the most underrated cuts of beef.

So the reason this cut puts a lot of people off is because of this. Inside there is a thick membrane, or we call it a tendon. This part is barely noticeable. It sort of mixes with the meat. We're just going to go right down the middle and remove the tough tendons, the chewy part of this meat, and you can grill it and slice it, and you'll be left with a very tender steak, and that's it. Next, ribeye? - So we have our own dry aging room, number one, because it's a swag. - This is our dry aging room.

I'm going to take out a couple of the ones that are ready. We age them for at least 45 days, cut them, distribute them and they will be ready for service tonight. - It is very important that we receive the best meat, and that the meat is never out of sight. -The meat is dry aged, so when you cut it, it's a little... you just have to be more careful, if you follow the lines. - We have full control of our aging room. It is important that we have control of all aspects of our steak. - And show you the way.

Look, it's simple. We'll go straight to the saw and then cut it into cuts that are about an inch and a half thick. Not many restaurants have a band saw because of its danger, space and all that, but we think it will be a key component of our operation. (slow electronic music) And all this is ready. And what Victor will do is scrape this grease and clean it well. The next step is to use this part of the fat on the grill, so when we cut, we usually take this part. Next, we'll remove this from the bone.

So this will be used for the Butcher's Festival, and the cap, or spinalis, will be used for the omakase. Alright, we have the last part of... oh. We have the last part of our Butcher's Feast left, which is the hanger steak. - In the past, when you went to a Korean barbecue restaurant, you needed to go with a Korean friend. - If I have to choose a cut that I hate cutting the most, it would probably be hanger steak (laughs) because it never comes in the same size or shape. This is located near the organs, so it has definitely been richer in iron.

I feel like, in my opinion, this represents the best translation of what beef is supposed to taste like. That's why it always has two sides, a larger muscle on one and a thinner muscle on the other. - So we wanted to demystify it, right? You can walk in and order a Butcher's Feast, and you'll get everything that real Korean asked for at a Korean BBQ restaurant. - And one side is clean. In many houses, if you were to cook this at home, I think it's okay to leave a little gray, but since we're going to present it raw on the table, I only want to go halfway, follow this. line that is never a straight line, but rather an inclined horizontal line.

Skin the silver skin. We like to wrap the meat. I think it definitely absorbs the blood, which prevents it from oxidizing, but at the same time I think it dries out the meat a little more, which gives it a nicer crust. This will be our Butcher's Feast, four by four. So what we want to do is make sure that it's thick enough so that they can be roasted. Here is the hanger steak. Next, the steak. - So Cote is perceived as an elegant restaurant because it is, we have the best meat that money can get. - Iron. -But if you came here and only ate Butcher's Feast, the cover and cover may be $58 per person. - And then the marinated ribs, so that will be the feast. - This smokeless grill that is in the center of each table is the center of Cote.

It is the most important piece. A steak is like a new Mercedes Benz. The moment it leaves the lot, which is a rotisserie, it depreciates. So what we did was we brought the power plant, which is a grill, to the table. If you are going to try our Steak Omakase, it is seven different cuts. -And we are going to go from a very lean cut, the steak, to the next cut will be the flank steak. There's the ribeye cap. - And you can eat different beef, but in very small portions. It's all about enlightening your palate, rather than consuming a large amount of beef. - And then the Cote steak, chopped American flattail.

That's the Omakase for four. This would also be topped with our marinated short ribs. (softly playing music) We made it through most of our killing. I think Victor has a few more things to do. Most of our running teams are starting to arrive, preparing for duty. - We have many regular customers to whom we are continually very grateful. They treat us with condescension, that's why we want to bring something new. - Next we have Kobe A5 beef. - We want to bring really hard to find beef. - I never had the chance to cut this, in bad taste. - One of the most expensive cuts in the world, so yes. -$300 a pound, okay?

Uh-oh, moment of truth. (slow orchestral music) Wow, we have the Miyazaki we currently serve at Cote, and this is a Kobe ribeye. So that it doesn't swell, I'm going to trim this fat a little. Come on, excuse me. Alright, now we have our charcoal grills ready. The only thing we are going to do is a little bit of salt. - So all these things that people have heard about, we want to be the ones to actually test them and examine them. - Did you know? I'm going to do this as is. - And make sure we provide value and quality to our clients. - I'm a little nervous about cutting it, but you know what, let's try it. - And 99.9% of the Kobes in the United States are not really Kobes.

This is actually born, raised and killed in Kobe. This is the third time I have eaten Kobe beef. - Third time, wow, how lucky you are. - First time. First time for us. - Okay, let's do it. Actually, I'll do Kobe first, yeah. - Well. - Well. - It exploded and disappeared. - But that's very light, right? It's not so... - Super. - It's very different, yes. - It's not that heavy. It is funny. - I mean, if you even look at the cutting board and all the grease that came from the Miyazaki compared to the Kobe, it's completely different.

This just eats a lot softer, or... It does, it doesn't really feel as strong with the fat right now. - How much more expensive is this? - Double. - It's double, okay. The question is, is it worth double the price? (David laughs) - I'm still not 100% sure. - I think what we should do is just introduce it, make it special and see how our customers react and then see how it works. Very excited about this. It's 4:30, the chefs are putting the finishing touches on their

mise

en

place

. In 30 minutes, guests will be lining up out the door.

So we'll be busy, thank you. (the group applauds) - Simon, do you want to send us to the service? - Yes, we actually have something really interesting that is not on the menu right now. We actually got Kobe beef. I think it will cost $64 an ounce. To say goodbye, there are a lot of new things here, right? It's a good amount, right, so there's a lot of information to learn, right, but at the end of the day, hospitality is about making our guests happy. People-pleasing hospitality doesn't start at five in the afternoon, it starts now, right?

We please each other, we create a culture where we constantly have a habit of making each other happy, and when the five comes, the client comes, it's natural for us to make them happy, okay? Much love, thank you. (group applauds) (overlapping chatter) - It's about five o'clock, sort of a quick line check. We have our egg soufflé, soy stew, and kimchi stew. We want to make sure that everything that makes up our startup, which are the things we need for the service, is correct. (dramatic orchestral music) We may need to spice up the kimchi stew a little, and we've got a big, fresh push ahead of us, so let's get ready.

First push, okay, let's get three shrimp, five oysters, board 62, steak tartare on the fire. - They want this to come to light. - Bacon and Steak tartare, table 65. Can I have the two oysters for Omakase, please? Service. Can we bring oysters, table 32? Two steak and eggs, table 22. - For me, the dining experience is about having fun. Of course, there's the nutrition and the ingredient has to be great and the technique has to be great, but I want to bring real joy. When our customers come in, and that little dry-aged fat, we purposely leave it a little longer to render, and we say, boom, and the flame just lights up.

People say, "Wow," and as a restaurateur, those kinds of little moments where we surprise our customers are so important. - Followed by, can I have one (upbeat jazz music), two, three, four chives, please? 15 should have gone, come on, come on, come on. (overlapping chatter) Now the hotline is going to get busy with all the casseroles coming in. Shoot two stews. 23 out, 33 out, next table, 64. Oh damn, SK? Four ounces of Kobe on the board. Can you guys next go to board 31 with the Kobe four ounces, board 22 and board 34? Next, 61, Pedro, if we can get to 61. - So I'm from Korea, I became American, and I love both cultures, that's what I am, makes me Simon Kim, he's Korean and American. (speaks Spanish) I need two more kimchis!

Ultimately, it's a steak dinner, but there are a lot of hidden elements there. The customer does not feel like he is going to a Korean restaurant when he comes to Cote, but ultimately, he enjoys the Korean flavors and way of eating. That approach is something I really appreciate about Cote. - We're done with the first push. As soon as we send the last two stews, we're done. What is happening? -How are you doing here? Pretty rockin' up top. - Yeah, I mean, the first one was pretty difficult. - Are you ready for the next round? - Yes of course. (overlapping chatter) Thank you, always a pleasure. (overlapping chatter) Always a pleasure. - Thanks thanks. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Yes, thanks.

When our customers leave Cote, I want them to feel like they had the time of their lives and ate the best steak they've ever had, and I think that's it. It's simple, you had a great time and had the best steak of your life, and let's do it again. (upbeat jazz music continues) (silent, overlapping chatter)